A joyous musical extravaganza to celebrate the Three Kingsand mark the close of the Christmas season

The artistes

Hannah Ockendon | soprano

Dominique Thiébaud | soprano

Roger Mullis | counter-tenor

David Sheppard | counter-tenor

Richard Rowe | tenor

Philip Salmon | tenor

Andrew James | bass-baritone

Maciek O’Shea| bass-baritone

Carol Wells | piano

Hosted and introduced by

Peter Medhurst | bass-baritone

The programme

In the first half, the music concentrates on celebrating Twelfth Night and the famous Three Kings associated with it: songs, choral works and vocal duos all inspired by Epiphany. The second half of the programme is fun time, where the performers parade their party pieces. Be prepared for many surprises.

The Bible gives us very little information about the wise men who came from the East bearing Christ the famous gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. All reference to them is housed in the opening chapter of St Matthew’s Gospel and what information is given is surrounded by ambiguity and approximation. However, by contrast, there is no shortage of music, poetry and art that has been inspired by these men, and this lecture examines the impact of the Three Kings on the culture of later generations.

Music performed includes: The Three Kings – Cornelius, The People that Walked in Darkness from Messiah – Handel, The Coventry Carol – Traditional, I Saw Three Ships – Traditional, Where is He that is Born King of the Jews? from Christus – F Mendelssohn

2.30 pm

Information: 01823 432420 via Contact form on this Website

9th January

Whiteley HallWhiteley, Hersham, Surrey KT12 4EH

In the Wake of HandelLecture-recital

Peter Medhurst explores the works of the French sculptor Roubiliac, the paintings of Hudson and Denner, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, the novels of Samuel Butler, the Crystal Palace, the chimes of Westminster, as well as compositions by Sullivan and Tippett, to assess the cultural influences Handel had on ‘a nation’, as he once wrote, ‘from whom I have receiv’d so generous a protection’.

Through digital images and live examples sung and played from the piano, Peter Medhurst discusses and illustrates the many complexities and subtleties that lie beneath the surface of one of Mozart’s best loved works.

Through digital images and live examples sung and played from the piano, Peter Medhurst discusses and illustrates the many complexities and subtleties that lie beneath the surface of one of Mozart’s best loved works.

7.30 pm

Information: via Contact form on this Website

12th January

University of KentAvebury Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent

Day SchoolFantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis – Vaughan Williams

In later years, the composer Herbert Howells recalled how as a young man he and Ivor Gurney had paced the streets of Gloucester for hours after they had attended the premier of Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis in the Cathedral, in 1910. They were too excited to sleep and were convinced that what they had heard would change the course of English music forever. They were right. What the Fantasia shows, is a) a letting go of Germanic influences that had shaped so much of British music in the preceding decades, and b) a drawing of inspiration from traditional English ideas, harking back to the so-called ‘golden age of English music’. The course discusses and analyses the Fantasia, and also takes a look at the Mass in G minor, written in 1921, which adopts – through the vocal medium – similar musical ideas.

Peter Medhurst explores the works of the French sculptor Roubiliac, the paintings of Hudson and Denner, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, the novels of Samuel Butler, the Crystal Palace, the chimes of Westminster, as well as compositions by Sullivan and Tippett, to assess the cultural influences Handel had on ‘a nation’, as he once wrote, ‘from whom I have receiv’d so generous a protection’.

Peter Medhurst explores the works of the French sculptor Roubiliac, the paintings of Hudson and Denner, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, the novels of Samuel Butler, the Crystal Palace, the chimes of Westminster, as well as compositions by Sullivan and Tippett, to assess the cultural influences Handel had on ‘a nation’, as he once wrote, ‘from whom I have receiv’d so generous a protection’.

10.30 am

Information:01482 899149

21st January

University of BristolLecture Theatre, School of Chemistry, Bristol BS8 1TS

In the Wake of HandelLecture-recital

Peter Medhurst explores the works of the French sculptor Roubiliac, the paintings of Hudson and Denner, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, the novels of Samuel Butler, the Crystal Palace, the chimes of Westminster, as well as compositions by Sullivan and Tippett, to assess the cultural influences Handel had on ‘a nation’, as he once wrote, ‘from whom I have receiv’d so generous a protection’.

Study MorningVenice in London: Venetian Influences on English Music and Culture

As the powers of Venice declined in the 18th century, many of its artists and musicians looked for work elsewhere and, perhaps inspired by the many young Englishmen on the Grand Tour, they set their sights on London. Musicians such as Galuppi and Alberti were joined by eminent painters such as Canaletto and Pelligrini, as this Venetian influence infiltrated London.

Through digital images and live examples sung and played from the piano, Peter Medhurst discusses and illustrates the many complexities and subtleties that lie beneath the surface of one of Mozart’s best loved works.

11.00 am

Information via the Contact form on this website

9th February

University of KentAvebury Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent

Day SchoolThe Midsummer Marriage – Michael Tippett

Tippett’s first opera – The Midsummer Marriage – had its premiere performance at Covent Garden in 1955, and marked the close of a the first important stage of development in the composer’s musical career. The opera is consciously modelled – at least as far as its storyline is concerned – on Mozart’s Magic Flute, but there the similarities end, since this is an opera that is English through and through, born, one might say, out of the very soil of the country. The day school discusses the genesis of the opera and how it sits in Tippett’s output, and then goes on to give a guided tour through what is arguably one of the greatest operas of the 20th century.

Venice in London: Venetian Influences on English Music and CultureAs the powers of Venice declined in the 18th century, many of its artists and musicians looked for work elsewhere and, perhaps inspired by the many young Englishmen on the Grand Tour, they set their sights on London. Musicians such as Galuppi and Alberti were joined by eminent painters such as Canaletto and Pelligrini, as this Venetian influence infiltrated London.

It has long been recognised that the worlds of the visual and aural arts link with extraordinary power when one medium inspires the other. The study day, which spans over 600 years of the arts, analyses and discusses a range of related works, bringing together the music of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano, Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem, and Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie with the piano playing of Albert Ammons.

10.30 am -3.30 pm

Organiser: Sue Webster 01344 457113

20th February

Art FundThe Menuhin Hall

Cobham Road, Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey KT11 3QQH

Lecture-recitalMusic in the Great Art Collections of Europe

Many of the great – but smaller – European art collections are tucked away in side streets, country houses and provincial towns, known often only to connoisseurs and local communities. With an eye to important paintings, musical instruments and pictures with musical content, Peter Medhurst explores some of these quality galleries, and examines the contents of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Burghley House in Lincolnshire, The Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, the Vleeshuis in Antwerp, and the Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice.

Venice in London: Venetian Influences on English Music and CultureAs the powers of Venice declined in the 18th century, many of its artists and musicians looked for work elsewhere and, perhaps inspired by the many young Englishmen on the Grand Tour, they set their sights on London. Musicians such as Galuppi and Alberti were joined by eminent painters such as Canaletto and Pelligrini, as this Venetian influence infiltrated London.

Peter Medhurst explores the works of the French sculptor Roubiliac, the paintings of Hudson and Denner, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, the novels of Samuel Butler, the Crystal Palace, the chimes of Westminster, as well as compositions by Sullivan and Tippett, to assess the cultural influences Handel had on ‘a nation’, as he once wrote, ‘from whom I have receiv’d so generous a protection’.

In this study day, Peter Medhurst takes a look at 18th century Italian music making – the composers, the performers, the musical forms and styles – and determines exactly what it was that drew the musical British travellers south, time and time again.

It has long been recognised that the worlds of the visual and aural arts link with extraordinary power when one medium inspires the other. This study day, which spans over 600 years of the arts, analyses and discusses a range of related works, bringing together the music of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano, Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem, and Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie with the piano playing of Albert Ammons.

It has long been recognised that the worlds of the visual and aural arts link with extraordinary power when one medium inspires the other. This study day, which spans over 600 years of the arts, analyses and discusses a range of related works, bringing together the music of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano, Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem, and Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie with the piano playing of Albert Ammons.

Handel’s influence on the music and the arts of the 18th centuryA lecture-recital by

Peter Medhurst

with guest violinist

Rob Norman

Despite his German birth, and his Italian musical training, Handel remains one of the most important composers that England ever nurtured. Not only did his music have direct influence on his musical contemporaries, but his larger-than-life personality had a profound effect on the literary, visual and decorative arts as well – both in his lifetime and after his death, in 1759. Peter Medhurst assesses the cultural influences Handel had on a nation, as he once wrote, from whom I have receiv’d so generous a protection.

Many of the great – but smaller – European art collections are tucked away in side streets, country houses and provincial towns, known often only to connoisseurs and local communities. With an eye to important paintings, musical instruments and pictures with musical content, Peter Medhurst explores some of these quality galleries, and examines the contents of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Burghley House in Lincolnshire, The Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, the Vleeshuis in Antwerp, and the Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice.

8.00 pm

Enquiries: contact Marril Gibson on 01959 – 569769

11th March

The Menuhin HallCobham Road, Stoke D’Abernon, Surrey KT11 3QQH

Study Day

Fingerprinting Beethoven

Peter Medhurst – presenter

with

Sam Haywood – piano

Matthew Scrivener – violin

Robbie Norman – violin

Adrian Smith – viola

Matthew Sharp – cello

10.30am – 4.00pm

The musical fingerprints of Beethoven are stamped firmly on all his works and are as recognisable to the ear as the brushstrokes of Monet are to the eye. With a first class team of musicians, Peter Medhurst discusses these fingerprints to reveal the complexities and wonders of Beethoven’s music.

Lecture-recitalVenice in London: Venetian Influences on English Music and Culture

As the powers of Venice declined in the 18th century, many of its artists and musicians looked for work elsewhere and, perhaps inspired by the many young Englishmen on the Grand Tour, they set their sights on London. Musicians such as Galuppi and Alberti were joined by eminent painters such as Canaletto and Pelligrini, as this Venetian influence infiltrated London.

Lecture-recitalPaintings inspired by Music and Music Inspired by paintings

It has long been recognised that the worlds of the visual and aural arts link with extraordinary power when one medium inspires the other. This lecture-recital, which spans over 600 years of the arts, analyses and discusses a range of related works, bringing together the music of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus with Respighi’s Trittico botticelliano, Böcklin’s Isle of the Dead with Rachmaninoff’s symphonic poem, and Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie with the piano playing of Albert Ammons.

11.00 am

Information: 01865 512712

19th March

Manx MuseumIsle of Man

Lecture-recitalVenice in London: Venetian Influences on English Music and Culture

As the powers of Venice declined in the 18th century, many of its artists and musicians looked for work elsewhere and, perhaps inspired by the many young Englishmen on the Grand Tour, they set their sights on London. Musicians such as Galuppi and Alberti were joined by eminent painters such as Canaletto and Pelligrini, as this Venetian influence infiltrated London.

Special EventI am the very model: parody & satire in the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan

The operas of Gilbert & Sullivan are rich in contemporary satire and witty personal allusions. The lecture tells how each of the 14 operas, on which the partners collaborated, drew inspiration from the world in which they lived. As a result, celebrities, politicians, social mores, manners, artistic taste, the class system – even Queen Victoria’s red drawing room at Windsor Castle – are poked fun at. The lecture relates how the then first Lord of the Admiralty, WH Smith, became the model for Sir Joseph Porter KCB in HMS Pinafore, how Oscar Wilde inspired Bunthorne – the fleshly poet – in Patience, and how Gilbert himself was the model for the Judge, in Trial By Jury.

Study dayI am the very model: parody & satire in the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan

The operas of Gilbert & Sullivan are rich in contemporary satire and witty personal allusions. The lecture tells how each of the 14 operas, on which the partners collaborated, drew inspiration from the world in which they lived. As a result, celebrities, politicians, social mores, manners, artistic taste, the class system – even Queen Victoria’s red drawing room at Windsor Castle – are poked fun at. The lecture relates how the then first Lord of the Admiralty, WH Smith, became the model for Sir Joseph Porter KCB in HMS Pinafore, how Oscar Wilde inspired Bunthorne – the fleshly poet – in Patience, and how Gilbert himself was the model for the Judge, in Trial By Jury.